Barbara Bush Rushed To Marry Craig Coyne So Her Grandfather George H.W. Bush Could Be There

Barbara Bush was at a loss when her namesake grandmother, former First Lady Barbara Bush, died in April at 92 from pulmonary disease.

“We weren’t expecting that,” Barbara, 36, told People. At the time, she was dating Los-Angeles-based screenwriter Craig Coyne, also 36. The two were originally set up on a blind date by a friend despite living on separate coasts.

“Craig didn’t get to meet my grandmother. I thought there would be plenty of time for that to happen.” Bush said

Four months later, Barbara decided to get married so her 94-year-old grandfather, former President George H.W. Bush could be there.

Craig proposed on August 25, at the same spot Barbara’s grandparents got engaged, during a Bush family gathering at her grandparents’ oceanside home in Kennebunkport, Maine.

“We actually would have gotten married the next week if we could have,” said Barbara. “We just thought, let’s try to do it soon. We knew we wanted to be married — we’d already made that decision — so we didn’t need months of an engagement.”

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With their minds set on getting married in Maine, which she calls her and Craig’s “happy place” after the couple spent alone time there with her grandfather in early summer when he returned for the first time without his wife of 73 years.

“It was just us three — quiet and beautiful. I would read to him. While he napped, Craig and I would go on walks, then dress my grandfather up and take him out for martinis and oysters,” she said.

When they picked the date for the wedding, her grandfathers annual mid-October return to Houston for the winter and his age and health condition played a huge role.

At the Sunday evening wedding on his back lawn, Bush beamed in the front row and stayed up to celebrate afterward.